When she sang “I Like the Things About Me,” it was confessional. “I like the things about me/That I once despised!” she sang, with a jerk of her head. And the music from her three-man band spoke so much with her that Staples slapped guitarist Rick Holmstrom on the arm as he fired off licks.

When she sang Curtis Mayfield’s “Let’s Do It Again,” she scat-sang to Holmstrom’s scratchy guitar and growled with so much emphasis and inspiration – at one point, her head reared back -- that the crowd spontaneously applauded.

And when she sang the soft and quiet “You Are Not Alone,” with was with a new mother’s gentleness.

Certainly some of that comes with experience. At 74, Staples told the crowd she and her family The Staple Singers has been singing for 64 years – through the turbulent 1960s and Civil Rights Movement.

And her material has always been strong: She sang “Freedom’s Highway,” which she noted her father, Pops Staples, wrote in 1962 for Martin Luther King’s March from Selma to Montgomery.

But Staples’ talent is intrinsic – God-given, if you will. And God remains a huge part of it.

Even after a more contemporary song, The Band’s “The Weight” (which, by the way, got a cheer for its opening line “pulled into Nazareth”) was sung with a Pentecostal preacher’s fervor. At the song’s end, she belted and wailed the chorus line “put the weight on me!” repeatedly, as if in a tent revival.

And “Too Close/On My Way to Heaven,” she preached in song and verse.

That song, as well as “You Are Not Alone,” also are relatively new – cuts from Staples’ Grammy Award-winning 2010 album “You Are Not Alone,” produced by Wilco’s Jeff Tweedy. And her opening song, Buffalo Springfield’s “For What It’s Worth,” was sung with the same intensity.

“I’ll tell you, it’s getting warm up here!” Staples said early in the set, and, indeed, it was.

After “We’re Gonna Make It,” 45 minutes into her 75-minute set, Staples sat down to let her band take over. If that sounds disappointing, it wasn’t.

Robert Cray

Holmstrom, too, is intrinsically talented. He played an instrumental “Swing Low Sweet Chariot,” then, with bassist Jeff Thomas switching to lead guitar, an amazing blues interlude.

Staples returned for “Eyes on the Prize,” then a 10-minute version of Staple Singers’ “I’ll Take You There” that was both spiritually uplifting and funky, with Staples belting in a big blues voice. There was no separation.

Early on, Staples told the crowd, “We’ve come this evening to bring you some joy, some happiness, some inspiration, and some of the good vibration!”

She succeeded, wonderfully, on all accounts.

Cray also displayed talent with every turn during his 15-song, 85-minute set.

His note-bending talent shown from the first song, “Phone Booth,” and near all of his songs offered solo interludes.

But there were surprises – one of which was the breadth of Cray’s musical offerings. There was, of course, traditional blues of “Two Steps from the End,” on which Cray made his guitar cry and sing, and “Won’t Be Comin’ Home.”

But there also was some great 1970s soul on the new “Fine Yesterday” – Cray noted that he has a new album, “In My Soul,” due Tuesday – which the crowd loudly applauded, and the more upbeat boogie of “I Shiver,” which with its flowing organ flourishes was one of the night’s best.

The other surprise was how, for all his guitar skills, Cray is an underrated singer. The second song, “Poor Johnny,” featured sweet soul singing. And on the slow, quiet and reserved “It Doesn’t Show,” he was even better.

But Cray still is best at playing guitar. With his three-member band, he won over the crowd with, of all things, his softest and most delicate playing in the 1987 song “Right Next Door (Because of Me)” halfway through the set. His most powerful playing was on the standard “Chicken in the Kitchen.” It, too, got a big cheer.

After the new instrumental “Hip Tight Onions” – which he called “a new little funky thing,” and was indeed funky – Cray closed his main set with his 1990 hit “The Forecast Calls for Pain”

His encore was more of that ‘70s soul on “A Memo (Nothing But Love),” then the closing “What Would You Say” – touching, with strummed guitar that chimed.

Perhaps because of the focus on the new disc – he also played “You Move Me,” his first in nearly 20 years -- Cray skipped some significant songs. He didn’t play “Bad Influence” or his signature song “Smoking Gun.”

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JOHN J. MOSER has been around long enough to have seen the original Ramones in a small club in New Jersey, U2 from the fourth row of a theater and Bob Dylan's born-again tours. But he also has the number for All-American Rejects' Nick Wheeler on his cell phone, wrote the first story ever done on Jack's Mannequin and hung out in Wiz Khalifa's hotel room.

OTHER CONTRIBUTORS

JODI DUCKETT: As The Morning Call's assistant features editor responsible for entertainment, she spends a lot of time surveying the music landscape and sizing up the Valley's festivals and club scene. She's no expert, but enjoys it all — especially artists who resonated in her younger years, such as Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young, Tracy Chapman, Santana and Joni Mitchell.

KATHY LAUER-WILLIAMS enjoys all types of music, from roots rock and folk to classical and opera. Music has been a constant backdrop to her life since she first sat on the steps listening to her mother’s Broadway LPs when she was 2. Since becoming a mother herself, she has become well-versed on the growing genre of kindie rock and, with her son in tow, can boast she has seen a majority of the current kid’s performers from Dan Zanes to They Might Be Giants.

STEPHANIE SIGAFOOS: A Jersey native raised in Northeast PA, she was reared in a house littered with 8-tracks, 45s and cassette tapes of The Beatles, Elvis, Meatloaf and Billy Joel. She also grew up on the sounds of Reba McEntire, Garth Brooks and Tim McGraw and can be found traversing the countryside in search of the sounds of a steel guitar. A fan of today's 'new country,' she digs mainstream/country-pop crossovers like Lady Antebellum and Sugarland and other artists that illustrate the genre's diversity.